VOLLEYBALL SEASON BRINGS CHANGES

A major overhaul of the state volleyball tournament bracket headlines the changes for the sport as the new season opens today. Teams are on the practice court for the first time and each squad is hoping to end the season at the state tournament in Denver.

The state tournament has been extended to a three-day tournament and will move from a pool play event to a double-elimination bracket leading to the semifinals. Once the semi-finals are set, the tournament then shifts to single-elimination. A major reason for the move is to avoid tie-breakers in pool play which often delayed the start of semifinals and championship matches.

The first two rounds of the tournament will be played on Thursday with matches beginning at 8:00am. Matches again pick up at 8:00am on Friday with the semifinals now slated to begin at noon on Saturday. The championship round has also been moved ahead one hour and is now scheduled to start at 6:00pm.

Getting to the state tournament remains the same process for every classification except Class 2A. That division has moved away from district tournaments and will now display the same format as Classes 3A, 4A and 5A. 36 teams will qualify to 12 three-team brackets and the winners of each will advance to the state tournament. No at-large berths will be available in Class 2A this year.

Regional qualifiers and bracket pairings for Classes 2A-5A will be announced on Monday October 29th.

Class 1A will continue with district tournaments with the top three teams from each advancing to eight regional tournaments. Each regional champion advances to the state tournament and they will be joined by four at-large teams selected through RPI the Monday following regional events.

Regular season action gets started much earlier this year as games can begin on August 16th but many clubs will wait until the following week to get started. The 1A regular season will close on October 20th with the remaining four divisions finishing on October 27th. Regionals must conclude by November 3rd with the state tournament set for November 8-10th.

Teams changing classifications include:

Norwood

1A

District 1

Merino

1A

District 4

Haxtun

1A

District 5

Cripple Creek

1A

District 7

Holly

2A

Santa Fe

Ellicott

3A

Tri Peaks

Montezuma Cortez

3A

Intermountain

Coronado

4A

Regular season 5A CS Metro

Windsor

5A

Regular season 4A Northern

Valor Christian

5A

Jeffco

Defending State Champions

1A: Kit Carson

2A: Lyons

3A: Eaton

4A: Lewis Palmer

5A: Castle View

Colorado Preps will continue in-depth coverage of each division with our weekly classification reports. Season previews will be produced the week of August 20th. Our network will also present stories on top returning players until then.